Teen Boarding School vs. Residential Treatment

Many families struggle with where to place an adolescent son or daughter who is struggling with depression, anxiety, addiction, eating disorders, behavior disorders or mood disorders.

When seeking a Teen Boarding School, many parents find that they are faced with two less than ideal options. First, they are afforded the option of a Therapeutic Boarding School with a weak academic component. Secondly they may choose a boarding school that offers strong academics, but little to no support around issues related to emotional or behavioral health.

This is often times further complicated for teens who have unhealthy relationships or poor boundaries with persons of the opposite sex, forcing parents to seek out a boarding school that is designed to serve only one gender. Well meaning parents often times choose to send their teen to a Boy’s Boarding Schools or a Girl’s Boarding School, only to find themselves frustrated with the long term results. After doing well at a school where there is no exposure to the opposite gender these young people often times return to a co-gender world poorly equipped to make healthy relationshiop decisions.

For these and other reasons many families find it invaluable to seek out short term residential treatment prior to enrolling in a therapeutic boarding school. If fact, many families are surprised to find that after 30 days of treatment, their son or daughter is in such a different place in terms of emotional and behavioral heath, that the options available increase exponentially. While most of the youth we treat return to their homes and schools quickly, others may go to traditional or therapeutic boarding schools.

Parents who are contemplating a teen boarding school who wish to weigh the advantages of enrolling their adolescent in Paradigm are invited to give us a call to explore the benefits. We also have a pool of parents of teens who came to Paradigm, prior to enrolling in a wide variety of boarding school, who are available to speak with families about their experiences.